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Fallbrook girls take second in Fullerton Youth Rugby International Tournament

This year's Fullerton Youth Rugby International Tournament was held March 19-20, and the Fallbrook High School girls rugby club took second place.

The Warriors reached the finals of the tournament played on the field across from Ladera Vista Junior High School but lost in the championship match to the Danville club.

Fallbrook co-coach Craig Pinnell notes that while a championship is one of the tournament goals, he and co-coaches Marin Pinnell, Paul Bell, and John Duncan scheduled the Warriors in the tournament to assess what adjustments will be necessary for Fallbrook to win the Southern California Youth Rugby League and National Invitational Tournament championships.

“You come out of it knowing what to work on,” Craig Pinnell said.

“It showed us that our rucking was not up to standard,” Pinnell said. “Our rucking definitely needs attention.”

The pool play matches March 19 consisted of 20-minute halves. Fallbrook began the tournament with a 60-0 win against the Innisdale squad from Ontario, Canada. The Warriors then faced Danville and defeated the Oaks by a 12-10 margin. “It was two totally different games,” Pinnell said.

The Oaks held a 5-0 halftime lead before Fallbrook came back for the victory. “They're a big team,” Pinnell said of Danville.

As the pool winner Fallbrook received a first-round bye in the March 20 knockout matches. Innisdale won its first-round playoff contest and faced Fallbrook in the semifinals.

Injuries limited Innisdale to 10 players for the semifinal, so Fallbrook agreed to a ten-on-ten contest. The matches normally involve 15 players on each side. Fallbrook played its substitutes rather than the Warrior starters. "We flipped the team around," Pinnell said.

The Warriors took 23 players to Fullerton, so some of the normal starters were on the field but played sparingly. “They'd be guiding the younger ones with less experience,” said Pinnell. “Their goal was to lead by guiding.”

The reserves stayed on the field for the entirety of the game. “It was very good for that team,” Pinnell said. “They don't have a lot of opportunities to make a big impact.”

The impact Fallbrook's bench players made was a 26-0 triumph which advanced the Warriors to the championship match against Danville. USA Rugby limits the number of minutes youth can play in one day, and because the game was the Oaks' third of the day, the final consisted of 15-minute halves.

Fallbrook held a 7-5 halftime lead, but the Oaks came back for the 17-12 triumph. "They played a better game than us," Pinnell said.

Fallbrook's girls won the Fullerton tournament five consecutive times between 2010 and 2014. The Warriors finished third in the 2015 tournament and lost a 14-0 pool play match to Danville as well as a 5-3 contest with Pleasanton in the semifinals.

Last year's Fullerton tournament loss to Danville had seeding implications for the National Invitational Tournament; the Oaks were seeded second and the Warriors were seeded third. Fallbrook avenged the Fullerton tournament loss with a 38-5 win over Danville in the semifinals and then defeated Kent (Washington) for the Warriors' fifth consecutive National Invitational Tournament championship.

Since the Danville victory in the 2016 Fullerton tournament final created a split of the two contests between the Warriors and the Oaks, USA Rugby will likely consider factors other than the even head-to-head record when seeding Fallbrook and Danville in the National Invitational Tournament. "By not winning that we created that issue for ourselves," Pinnell said.

 

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